Readme for the shareware and the full version of the game PaddleMaster

Informations about the game

This is the online version of the Readme file which is delivered together with PaddleMaster. It is identical up to slight changes with the original.

Please also read the file "Licence.txt" to find out the license regulations for this program. BY THE USE OF THE PROGRAM YOU DECLARE AUTOMATICALLY YOUR CONSENT WITH THE LICENSE REGULATIONS! Therefore, please read over the license regulations BEFORE you use the program.

1. About the game

The game PaddleMaster is basically a pinball simulation by which a ball is moved with two paddles above a map and points are collected. In contrast to other representatives of this genre on the computer the ball is here not steered in 'friendly railways', insteed the player has to do the targeting and striking at his own. Beside the paddles used for this, there are also some special objects which can be likewise used by the player, or which influence the direction of the ball autonomously. To make the whole a little bit sportier, the real destination of the game is not to collect as many points as possible, but to collect the points of a map in a very short time and with as few balls as possible. To finish a map a special 'End' object is placed on it and must be hit with the ball to end the game.

The program offers realistic physics like the arcade machines, several levels of difficulty, controllable objects and many maps for a long and fun gameplay. The game has also nice rendered graphics of two different sets, lighting- and shadow effects as well as edge antialiasing - and all effects are computed in real-time!

2. Hardware requirements

To be able to run the game without problems you need to have at least this configuration:

Processor of the Pentium class with 350Mhz (500Mhz recommended)
32MB main memory
AGP-1X graphics card with 8MB memory (2X recommended)
Hard disk with 9MB (Shareware) resp. 27MB (full version) of free space
Operating system Windows 95OSR2/98/Me or Windows2000 (XP not testet)
Microsoft DirectX 5.0 or higher

REMARK: PaddleMaster is a pure 2D game, 3D acceleration functions of a graphics card are not used. Therefore the speed of the graphics card bus is most important, a PCI based one is definitively too slow. For smooth gameplay at least a frame rate of 70 Fps or more is necessary which is only reached with a AGP graphics card with 1X interface. Some maps of the game have increased hardware requirements, hence, a 2X card is recommended therewith it have enough reserves.

3. Installation and Deinstallation of the game

To install the game, please execute the setup file and follow the instructions. For the shareware version about 9MB of hard disk space are necessary, and for the full version 27MB. During the installation absolutely no files are added to the Windows system and no system files are replaced. Also no entries are added to the registry. In the application data folder the folder 'PaddleMaster' with the configuration files is created. If requested, entries are made in the start menu and a shortcut on the desktop is created. However, both of this can also be deactivated during the installation. For the automatic deinstallation of the program an entry is added in the start menu. You can uninstall the program, however, also about the control panel.

4. Included files

The game consists of the following files:

PaddleMaster.exe	The actual game
PMaster.dll	This program library is necessary for the game as well as for the editor
PaddleMaster.cfg	Configuration file for the game (if it doesn't exist it is automatically created at the program start)
PMaster.pmarc	The archive file which contains the game resources
PMHelp.hlp	The Help file
License.txt	File with the license conditions
ReadMe.txt	You just read the online version of this file

The full version includes in addition the following files:

Editor.exe	With the editor new maps for the game can be created.
Editor.cfg	Configuration file for the editor
Editorhilfe.hlp	Help file for the editor

REMARK: The configuration file for the editor is not automatically created by the start if none exists. This means that the editor cannot start without one. In this case you must install the game new.

5. What's new in the version 1.5

The paddles were improved a bit, so that it is easier now to strike the ball reliably in a certain direction. Besides, the difference between a normal and a quick stroke was clearly increased. Thereby it also becomes a little easier to control the ball.
All maps were reworked and improved, as well as difficult places were simplified. Thereby the playing of a map should become considerable simpler than before. Besides, all time limits were extended, so that one has more time to complete a map.
With the new option 'Easy game' the points in the game are no more obstacles independent of the game mode. This makes easier for beginners to play through a map.
When playing in the fullscreen mode the window frame now is hidden, so that the whole screen is available as a play surface.
The game supports now the resolutions '800x600, 1024x768, 1152x864, 1280x1024'.
For owners of LCD monitors a minimum Framerate of 74 FPS was introduced, which is independent of the frequency of the monitor. With it smooth gameplay is now also be possible on LCD monitors.
Now the brightness of a map can also be adjusted in the game. If a darker map can hardly be seen in broad daylight, its brightness can be adjusted with this to make it playable.

REMARK: You can find a complete list of all changes in the chapter 'Version history' .

6. Differences between the shareware version and the full version

The shareware version is basically a limited version of the program which consists only of two small maps. This restriction aside, the versions are identically with each other, the game is functionally not limited in any way. The shareware version should demonstrate, above all, the efficiency of the program and give you an impression of the gameplay. The full version consists of 12 maps which are substantially bigger and contains in addition many new graphic arts. Every map offers according to the level of difficulty up to one hour and more time of gameplay. Furthermore an editor is provided, with which you can create a unlimited number of new maps. The price of the full version is 12.95 Dollar.

7. Performance tips

There are several possibilities for the acceleration of the game:

Ideally the frame rate of the game (this is displayed in the editor) should be identical with the frequency of your monitor. If that is the case, you can only accelerate the ball by increasing the monitor frequency.
With a lower frame rate check first the configuration of your system: DirectX 5 or higher should be installed and in the system settings of the computer the hardware acceleration should stand by 100%.
With DirectX the DirectDraw hardware acceleration should be activated. Check this with the program 'dxtool.exe' or 'dxdiag.exe' (about 'Start-> Execute') and activate the hardware acceleration if necessary.
Check in the BIOS of your computer the settings of your AGP graphics card: choose there the highest speed setting for the bus, and activate the turbo mode as well as the support for fast writes.

8. Known problems

The program can only handle color depths of 16-and 32 bits. Hence, it starts automatically in the fullscreen mode if the desktop have an other setting (4-, 8-or 24 bits). The use of the window mode is then no more possible. To use it again, you must change the color resolution of the desktop to 16-or 32 bits. Besides, the fullscreen mode requires an installed DirectX in the version 5 or above. If DirectX is not installed or does not work correct, the program cannot be started at all when a different color depth is used. Change in this case the color settings or install DirectX.

The demos of the game were all recorded with a resolution of 800x600. To make the demo files very small, only the animations are recorded in full length which happen in the currently visible area of the window. If one of the demos is plaid back in a higher resolution (e.g. 1024x768), hence, it can happen, (in most times with the paddles) that the animation jumps from the first to the last picture (or vice versa) instead of completely be displayed. This looks a little bit strange, however, it has no other effects on the playback of the demo.

The minimum Framerate introduced with version 1.5 increases the speed of the ball by dropping single frames. As long as the frame rate stays solidly at 60 FpS or more, this will cause no problems. However, if it falls on a weaker computer clearly under it or varies heavily, the use of the minimum Framerate can lead to the fact that to many frames are dropped and the game becomes unplayable. In this case you can deactivate the mechanism by entering 0 in the configuration file as a value for the ,inimum Framerate.

So that the editor can save and load new maps, it needs in contrast to the main program write access into the program directory with the PMaster. pmarc file. External maps can only be loaded if they are in the same di- rectory as the PMaster file. Pay attention, hence, under Windows 2000 to use the editor either only with administrator's right, or give the program write access to its program directory.

9. Command line parameter

The editor has the parameter 'archivmap n' which allows you to open a map directly from the archive file. In this case 'n' must be a number between 0 (for the first map) and 11 (for the last map). The sequence of the maps is here the same as in the selection dialog of the game. A map, opened this way, can also be stored outside of the archive. This parameter is especially meant for the fact to allow the recording of demos for the standard maps. Therefore you save first the map and then record the demo which you can save afterwards about the Load/Save dialog for the demos. However, please limit the distribution of the demos to the demo file, so that the maps of the full version are not spread out over the whole Internet. And add also a file of information which exactly tell for which map the demo was recorded (best of all the name of the map as well as the number).

10. Information template for maps and demos

According to the conditions in 2.d of the License Agreement a file of information must be added to every new map and every demo which must contain at least the following informations:

**** THIS MAP IS NOT MADE BY OR SUPPORTED BY ADVANCED GAMES AND STRATEGIES ****

LEGAL INFORMATIONS	:
Filename	:
Author's name	:
Email	:
Homepage	:

**** THIS MAP IS NOT MADE BY OR SUPPORTED BY ADVANCED GAMES AND STRATEGIES ****
With demos you replace above 'MAP' with 'DEMO'.

In addition, the following informations should be made:

With maps:

MAP INFORMATIONS	:
Map name	:
Width x Height	:
Ball limit	:
Time limit	:
Light level	:

With demos:

DEMO INFORMATION	:
Player's name	:
Map name	:
Demo length	:
Ball count	:
Points	:
Game mode	:
Shakes	:
Framerate	:

The file name of a demo should for the simpler relation always be identically with the file name of the map.

11. Version history

Legend: '+' new, '*' changed, '-' fixed/removed

Version 1.5 of the 9/01/2007:
   + freely choosable video resolutions / window dimensions
   + in the fullscreen mode the window frame is now hidden
   + Option 'Easy game' for a easier gameplay
   + minimum Framerate for LCD monitors
   + adjustable brightness for the maps
   * improved paddle control and ball handling
   * reworked and simpler maps with longer time limits
   * the help files were reworked and were improved
   + Autostart: the ball and the play mode can now be activated at the same time with the return key
   + the window position can be determined in the configuration file
   + a game can be started with 'F2', a demo with 'F3'
   * the demo acceleration lies now on 'F4'
   + with 'Shift+F4' a demo can be slowed down again
   + with 'F5' the demo acceleration can be turned off any time
   - the main program can now be used with Windows2000 without administrator's rights (the editor needs administrator's rights)
   - various errors with the DirectDraw output in the windowed mode were fixed
   - several graphical errors, which were caused by switching between desktop and fullscreen mode, were fixed
   - when a dialog is moved in the fullscreen mode, the background will now correctly be restored

Version 1.0 of the 7/14/2004:
* the first release of the program